THREE was the magic number for Wrexham and Dean Keates.

Staring a miserable defeat in the face against Weymouth, Keates’ Reds scored three times in the final 18 minutes of proceedings to claim a memorable 3-2 success.

Three goals and an impact from a hat-trick of substitutes - Jordan Davies, Dan Jarvis and Adi Yussuf - made it a pleasing finish to proceedings for Wrexham in a classic ‘game of two halves’.

“The three subs came on and all had an impact,” Keates told the club’s official website.

“We were nowhere near in the first-half, you make changes because it’s a squad game and the three who have come on have been asked to go an make an impact and they’ve contributed, so I’m really happy with that.”

Yussuf is claiming the opener from Theo Vassell, who scored the second, while Davies, brought on at the break, and Jarvis, earned the praise of Keates for their impact on proceedings.

“In the last week he’s looked like the Dan Jarvis we signed and we had last season,” said Keates. “He’s at the point where he’s forcing his way into the side.”

Turning his attentions to Davies, who replaced Jamie Reckord at the interval, Keates is looking to nail down a permanent position for the versatile youngster.

“He’s got a great left-foot, he came on and he had an impact,” said Keates. “He was bright, on the front-foot, he got some decent crosses into their box and he was comfortable in possession.

“He’s such a good football player that we need to make sure he doesn’t become a Jack of all trades and master of none. We need to nail a position down for him. He left us as a left-back, he can play in midfield and it’s something we need to look at now in the future.”

The performance of the substitutes helped Wrexham recover from 2-0 down as Josh McQuoid and Jake McCarthy struck inside the opening 26 minutes in Dorset.

It was the worst possible start for Wrexham and Keates, who reflected: “We’ve had an enforced break and we spoke about the need to start bright and sharp straight from the first whistle.

“We’ve had an attack, they’ve gone straight back down the other end and one of our players in the 18-yard box has completely switched off.

“The player has run off the back of him and we are 1-0 down.”

Asked whether the poor start - and goals - came as a result of a change of system that included three central defenders with Shaun Pearson back alongside Fiacre Kelleher and Theo Vassell in the heart of defence, Keates declared: “No. That’s basics in the 18-yard box, you do not defend with your shoulders closed, you’ve got to keep your body position open.”